Nearly 6 percent of adults receive long-term care on medical grounds

13/12/2013 15:00

By the end of last year, 5.6 percent in the Dutch population aged 18 years or older received long-term AWBZ funded care on medical grounds. The proportion is considerably higher in older age categories and varies by region.

Mainly older people

By the end of 2012, nearly 750 thousand adults (5.6 percent) received AWBZ funded care on medical grounds. More than 402 thousand people received residential care and nearly 345 thousand received non-residential care.

The proportion of individuals receiving care on medical grounds increases with age, from nearly 3 percent among 18 to 35-year-olds to nearly 75 percent among over-90s. The majority of over-85s receive care in homes and institutions.

Vast regional differences

There are vast regional differences with respect to the proportion of people receiving AWBZ funded care. In the region covered by the administration office Amstelland en De Meerlanden, for example, 1.7 percent of adults had non-residential care versus 4.2 percent in the Twente region. The distribution across the regions regarding residential care is smaller.